Mirza WAQAR AHMED vs AYESHA ZEESHAN S — 2023 MLD 1000 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE

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Mirza WAQAR AHMED VS AYESHA ZEESHAN S. 25---Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 199---Custody of minors---Financial means of father better than mother's---Application of the respondent/mother for custody of the minors was dismissed by the Trial Court while her appeal was partly allowed entrusting her the custody of minor daughters while maintaining the order of the trial court to the extent of custody of minor sons---Validity---Undisputedly, petitioner/ father of the minors had better financial means and resources than their mother/respondent since petitioner/father was settled in a foreign country, however, that was not the determining factor in law to adjudicate upon custody of the minors---Maintenance of child was the duty of the father and the mother could not be deprived of custody due to her inability to maintain the child for lack of resources---Petitioner/Father did not personally appear in the witness box to oppose claim of respondent/mother and to establish how entrustment of custody to him was indeed in the welfare of the minors---Respondent/mother of the minors, on the other hand, despite meager resources available to her had been relentlessly pursuing her claim for the custody of the minors for a number of years---Mother of the minors girls was entitled to their custody unless there was anything available on record to disentitle her---Minor daughters in this case were at such tender ages where they required the care and custody of their mother because no one could be a better custodian of a minor girl than the real mother---Minor was not always the best judge of where his or her welfare lied---Resourceful father had legal, moral and religious obligation to facilitate his minor daughters' congenial educational environment at his expense---If the minor daughters were deprived of the love, affection and care of their real mother, the quantum of loss of their psychological and emotional development would be phenomenally higher in comparison to limiting interaction with their brothers, which could be mitigated by frequent meetings inter se the minors---Petitioner/Father could not be allowed to remove the minors out of the territorial limits of Pakistan without leave of the Court, particularly when the same was opposed by their mother---Removal of the minors from the territorial limits carried the risk of irreversibly compromising or destroying right of the mother to custody of the minor girls and visiting rights of the minor boys---Impugned judgment of the Appellate Court did not suffer from any illegality or jurisdictional error---Petition was dismissed, in circumstances.

Mirza WAQAR AHMED vs AYESHA ZEESHAN S — 2023 MLD 1000 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE

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